BURTON Albion players celebrated their Carabao Cup quarter-final triumph with a visit to Burton’s Queen’s Hospital.
The day after the 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough, manager Nigel Clough, his backroom staff and some of the players who played in the big match, including goalscorer Jake Hesketh, made a tour of the wards meeting staff and patients.
The Brewers first team squad visit the hospital every year in the run up to Christmas to sign autographs, pose for pictures and to have a chat.
They also took a selection of presents to hand out to staff on the wards and signed programmes for patients.
Nigel Clough said: “We all look forward to the annual visit to Queen’s Hospital and we love to meet the staff who work so hard all year round as well as Christmas and the patients who may well have to spend December 25 on the wards rather than at home.
“There was a great buzz after the excitement of the win in the Carabao Cup the night before and we were delighted to see that the success of the team has given so many people a big lift.
“We would like to thank everyone for making us so welcome and want to wish them all the best for the festive season.”
Matt Hancock, Burton Albion Community Trust Head of Community, who arranged the visit said: “The hospital visit at Christmas is a great tradition and something that everyone enjoys.
“We want to thank all the staff at the hospital who made the visit possible and all the patients who welcomed us on the visit.”
Chris Maddox, Community and Corporate Partnership Manager at UHDB said: “It was great to welcome the players and management team to our hospital, and to congratulate them on their recent win. We are very proud of our town and our staff and patients were delighted to meet everyone and join in the celebrations.
“We have a great partnership with Burton Albion and we thank them for continuing to support our hospital.”